[1] The number of items in today's collection, which spans zoological, paleontological and mineralogical specimens, is approximately 5 million unique pieces, of which only a fraction are exhibited.

[3] Due to its large collection of type specimens the museum is an important establishment in the field of biological systematics, and it maintains an active exchange with other scientific institutions worldwide.

During this time upstanding university members like Carl Linnaeus, Olof Celsius and Jonas Alströmer donated collections of material to the museum.

The Museum of Evolution consists of a paleontological, a botanical and a zoological section, all located on the grounds of the Evolutionary Biology Centre of Uppsala University.

The section contains a large collection of fossil mammalian specimens, as well as mounted skeletons of contemporary cetaceans and the fossilised mandible of an Eocene mysticete.